When deadly fires raged in Cuba's primary oil storage tanks in Matanzas August 5-12, US agencies failed to provide or fund immediate material help and personnel to extinguish them, despite our special competence and respected history of international disaster assistance. Prompt action could have saved lives and prevented the fire from destroying two additional storage tanks. The US can now take the generous and humane step of providing assistance to address the fire's aftermath, including further deterioration in Cuba's electrical generation and distribution system as discussed with the Environmental Protection Agency. Hurricane Ian devastated western Cuba before striking Puerto Rico and Florida., destroying homes, businesses and vital crops. USAID's website reports, "The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is responsible for leading and coordinating the U.S. government’s response to disasters overseas. OFDA responds to an average of 65 disasters in more than 50 countries every year." Director Samantha Power is well positioned to lead such an effort as shown by her groundbreaking speech to the UN General Assembly, full text here https://tinyurl.com/PowerUN Resources * "U.S. will provide $2 million of hurricane aid in Cuba" by Karen De Young, Washington Post, October 18, 2022 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/18/biden-cuba-hurricane-ian/ * "Disaster diplomacy: Why Biden should rush to help Cuba after Hurricane Ian" by Professor William LeoGrande, Responsible Statecraft https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/09/30/disaster-diplomacy-why-biden-should-rush-to-help-cuba-after-hurricane-ian/ * Letter from Representatives Lee, McGovern and Meeks calling for US humanitarian aid to Cuban victims of Hurricane Ian https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairs-lee-meeks-and-mcgovern-issue-statement-regarding-humanitarian-assistance-to-cuba-following-hurricane-ian * Letter from FFRD to USAID https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2022/08/letter-to-usaid.html * "Cuba’s enormous blaze fuels fears of instability even as flames are doused" by Ed Augustin https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/10/cuba-fire-government-power-cuts * "Did U.S.-Cuba dysfunction prevent a quicker end to the Matanzas oil fire disaster?" by Tim Padgett https://www.wlrn.org/news/2022-08-19/did-u-s-cuba-dysfunction-prevent-a-quicker-end-to-the-matanzas-oil-fire-disaster * "We appreciate humanitarian assistance offer made by the US. This material contribution that is worth 2 million USD, channeled through the International Federation of Red Cross, will add up to our recovery efforts in support of the victims of the ravages caused by #HurricaneIan" Tweet by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

The County Commissioners can facilitate a rebirth and revitalization of Taos County. They can act now and be part of building a new Taos County, which is entirely based on the old Taos County before all of these rules and regulations stifled innovation and ingenuity. This will enable reduce water and fossil fuel consumption, foster innovation and empower aspiring farmers, and most importantly, it will increase the quality of life for people in the community. If Taos County goes back to its roots and empowers owner builders to develop innovative solutions to the problems that plague our society, they will re-foster the innovation, courage and self-sufficiency for which the residents of Taos County are known. The county is full of innovative individuals who have embraced taking personal responsibility for the world. They have taken it upon themselves to live more in harmony with the earth and reduce their global footprint. Yet, instead of celebrating these innovations, the county is, at present, attempting to regulate them out of existence. Think about individuals making minimum wage who cannot afford a home. Think about the most disadvantaged members of this community. Keeping people off the streets helps everyone in the community. For a full problem and solution statement with citations and references, go to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a1Htw7P8ulf9uKChr83bRMudsMR6vI5UBD3GLDcW_Z0/edit?usp=drivesdk

The real estate developers are a powerful force in NYC, but the people of Brooklyn don't back down in the face of a threat to our communities.

We are partnering with other organizations across the country to gather signatures on this petition started by Greenpeace. Please add your name to this petition to send the strongest possible message to President Biden. The climate crisis is already changing life as we know it. Devastating climate impacts are displacing millions of people each year. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry continues to extract from public lands and exploit communities of color for profit. Declaring a Climate Emergency would be the beginning of the end to the era of fossil fuels and climate destruction. By using his executive powers, President Biden can repair the harm caused by environmental racism and deliver good-paying union jobs, justice, and clean energy for all. Families from Washington state to Florida are already starting to feel the severity of the climate crisis. In the United States and around the world, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor people are the first to feel the impacts of fossil fuel extraction and predatory exploitation. By declaring a Climate Emergency, President Biden can begin to utilize the “whole-of-government approach” to begin solving the biggest existential threat that we have ever faced.

As I write this, the clock that indicates how much time we have left to avoid a 1.5 degree temperature increase is about to roll over from 7 years, 0 days, 00:00:00 to 6 years, 364 days, 23:59:59. In spite of this, and the fact that the majority of Pennsylvanians want to see their government act on climate, our state government continues to take us in the wrong direction, approving more fossil fuel and petrochemical development while pushing for huge investments in false climate solutions promoted by the fossil fuel industry. Among them are technologies like Carbon Capture and Storage and Blue Hydrogen, initiatives like turning western PA into a Hydrogen Hub, and specific projects like Nacero, Encina, and KeyState. Our clock must serve as a permanent reminder that our government needs to break its ties with the industries responsible for the ever-shortening amount of time it counts down and take swift, bold, and just action on climate.

Years ago, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources contracted with a private corporation to put oil & gas well records on its cloud via a database called EDWIN. DCNR staffers scan the records that are uploaded. The database and all of the work to populate it is funded with your tax dollars. The data in the EDWIN are critically important to people who are tracking issues related to oil & gas development. They should not have to travel to a DCNR office in Pittsburgh or Middletown or submit requests to receive individual records to avoid paying $5,500 dollars to access public information. One of those people is Laurie Barr, who I have worked with for many years. She doggedly tracks orphaned and abandoned wells in the state. There are hundreds of thousands of those wells dotting the state that have never been plugged and are leaking climate-killing methane unchecked. One academic researcher who toured the state with Laurie called some of the wells she found 'super-emitters' of methane. Laurie has spent her own money on gas, tolls, and hotels to make the 5 hour trip to Pittsburgh just to access the data she should be able to access for free from her home computer. Please sign my petition to tell the DCNR to eliminate the outrageous fees that only serve to restrict access to critically-important public information.

People should join this campaign for change because it presents a paradigm shift, environmentally, for the United States. Currently, our society channels water from every rainfall to be drained away. This causes dehydration of the land withheld water. Every hard surface produces rainwater run-off. These are places where rainfall could previously sink into the ground. We cannot remove every hard surface, like roofs and roads, so we must invest in managing that run-off more naturally to allow more water to soak into the aquifers. One more time, too often too much fresh water or storm water is directed into rivers and waterways before it can soak into the ground. Many of us have seen the pipes that discharge at incredible rates, and still don't seem to be enough to capture our ever-growing hard surface footprint. These pipes must be discharged before the natural environment and given spaces within the cities, towns, and farms to seep into the soils of the landscape. Every town and region will be different based upon rainfall and geologic boundaries. Securing fresh water resources for our environments will then increase the availability of fresh water for human use. Remember the power of the beaver, that is who and what we must encourage and replicate now.

This is important because the people of the United States cannot allow a currently undemocratic institution like the Supreme Court to make incredibly dangerous population-wide decisions which go against facts, logic, and the will of the people.

On June 11th, 11 churches joined together to provide $25,000 in free gas in Prince George's County to provide direct aid to the community. Organizers were discouraged to learn that Sunoco Gas Station on Marlboro Pike increased the price per gallon by 10 cents during the event- and immediately lowered the price after. Currently, in Laurel, MD residents are receiving rent increases from $400.00 - $1600.00 as well as parking fees of varying amounts depending on rental seniority & Schweb Partners LLC based in Jackson, NJ claims this is market value for their units. Blatant exploitation and price gouging are unacceptable when our community is struggling to make ends meet, Maryland needs explicit anti-price gouging legislation to protect our citizens from industry greed.

Your signatures will accompany a letter that we'll submit to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The full letter is available for your review here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeWiBV-J1bxRofYiSvdD9KgfyZilG_KKJGaZZKoC75tDxfPA/viewform

With 2.9% of every company's earnings contributing to the SSA, I am urging the decision-makers to consider the welfare of such a diverse community of citizens who are so in need of a hope to hold on to. By making one small step for man, we can rest assured that addressing this issue head-on is the most important leap for mankind during this prevailing crisis. By increasing policies to aid the crisis itself, I believe that taking action will create a domino effect in which others will want to be apart of. It is not too late to make a difference, sign this petition to propel this initiative forward and enact change in our country today.

It is total hypocrisy for the U.S. to oppose Russia's oil dictator Vladimir Putin while supporting Saudi Arabia's oil dictator Mohammed bin Salman. But according to news reports, President Biden is about to travel to Saudi Arabia to restore U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia's brutal oil dictator, Mohammed bin Salman. Biden may travel to Saudi Arabia later this month in order to shake the Saudi dictator's hand. Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, is the world's largest corporate climate polluter. Meanwhile, the Saudi dictatorship has used billions of dollars in U.S. weapons to starve and kill thousands of people in Yemen. Tell President Biden not to shake hands with Saudi Arabia's dictator. SOURCES: 1. "Biden to Travel to Saudi Arabia, Ending Its ‘Pariah’ Status," The New York Times, June 2, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/us/politics/biden-saudi-arabia-trip.html. 2. "What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?" The Guardian, October 9, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/what-we-know-top-20-global-polluters 3. "Yemen: US-made weapon used in air strike that killed scores in escalation of Saudi-led coalition attacks," Amnesty International, January 26, 2022, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/01/yemen-us-made-weapon-used-in-air-strike-that-killed-scores-in-escalation-of-saudi-led-coalition-attacks/